Private Lender for Construction Finance
Finance that moves at the pace of the worksite, not the certifier
Experts in strategic, short-term secured finance
Secured Lending is a private, non-bank lender. We fund builders, contractors and trades against property they already own, and we do it in days rather than months. Costs fall due on the worksite long before a progress claim is certified and paid, because wages, materials and subbies do not wait for a certifier, and that gap is the reason so many profitable construction businesses are declined by a bank. Loans run from $250,000 to $10,000,000, secured by a first or second mortgage over the yard, the site, or a director's property. This is business purpose lending, and we lend our own funds, which is why a complete enquiry gets a decision in hours.
Who We Help
- Residential builders carrying a job from one certified stage to the next
- Commercial builders funding trades and materials ahead of a certified claim
- Civil and infrastructure contractors mobilising on government and tier-one contracts
- Subcontractors and trades waiting 60 or 90 days on a head contractor
- Fit-out and refurbishment companies fronting materials on a fixed-price contract
- Construction businesses bridging a deposit, a land settlement, or a retention release
- Builders carrying an ATO debt that is compounding while claims sit uncertified
- Land-rich operators declined by a bank on servicing, despite owning the yard, the site or their home
How We Can Help You
- We assess the property and the exit, so lumpy progress-payment cash flow does not decide the outcome
- Our own valuers assess construction security directly, including part-built sites, industrial yards and land holdings
- We hold our own funds and our own credit authority, so a decision takes hours and settlement can happen within 24 hours
- We take a first or second mortgage, so an existing facility does not need to be broken to release capital
- Terms run from 1 to 24 months, and most borrowers are with us for 3 to 6 while the claim, the sale or the refinance completes
- Rates start from 9.7% p.a., interest only for the term
Construction Finance Scenarios We Fund
Construction brings us one of the biggest volumes of enquiry we take, and it is not one product. A subcontractor chasing a head contractor needs a different structure to a civil contractor mobilising on a new contract. Below are the scenarios we are asked for most often.
Residential builders
A fixed-price contract, a frame stage signed off but not yet paid, and a slab going down on the next job. The money leaves the business at the start of a stage and comes back at the end of it.
The stage gets built and the next slab still goes down on schedule, whatever the certifier is doing with the last claim. The facility carries the job through the stage and is retired by the certified claim or the settlement, so the repayment is already funded by work that has been done.
- Slab, frame, lock-up and fit-out costs are met before the claim is certified
- Suppliers and trades are paid on the stage, not on the certifier's calendar
- The next job starts on time instead of waiting on the last one to pay out
- Works where the last stage payment is late and the next stage has already begun
- A fixed-price contract is held to without stopping work to wait for money
- Exit is the certified progress claim or a settlement
A fixed-price contract, a frame stage signed off but not yet paid, and a slab going down on the next job. The money leaves the business at the start of a stage and comes back at the end of it.
The stage gets built and the next slab still goes down on schedule, whatever the certifier is doing with the last claim. The facility carries the job through the stage and is retired by the certified claim or the settlement, so the repayment is already funded by work that has been done.
- Slab, frame, lock-up and fit-out costs are met before the claim is certified
- Suppliers and trades are paid on the stage, not on the certifier's calendar
- The next job starts on time instead of waiting on the last one to pay out
- Works where the last stage payment is late and the next stage has already begun
- A fixed-price contract is held to without stopping work to wait for money
- Exit is the certified progress claim or a settlement
Our Loan Products
- First mortgage: the cleanest position, used where the yard, the site or the director's property is unencumbered, or where an existing facility is being refinanced in full
- Second mortgage: sits behind an existing first, so a bank facility and a fixed rate do not have to be broken to release equity from the yard or the home
- Bridging loans: covers the gap between a cost on the worksite and the certified claim, retention or settlement that repays it
- Caveat loans: our fastest product, lodging a caveat rather than registering a full mortgage, for genuinely urgent and short repayment windows such as a payroll run or a deposit deadline
Related Reading
- →Construction lenders in Australia
- →Private lender for commercial builders finance
- →Second mortgage for construction costs
- →Bridging finance for construction equipment
Bad Credit in Construction Is Normal, and Fundable
Retentions, a slow progress claim and one client who did not pay will put arrears on a builder file inside a quarter. Banks treat that as a credit event. We treat it as the cash flow gap it is. Where the security property carries equity inside 70% LVR and there is a settlement, a sale or a refinance ahead, we fund it. Rates from 9.7% p.a.
- →Clearing mortgage arrears before they become a default
- →What a bad credit business loan needs from you
"Construction is one of the biggest categories of enquiry we get, and the pattern is almost always the same. The job is sound, the claim is coming, and the money is three weeks behind the wages. We are not underwriting a claim book. We are funding the gap, so the crew stays on site and the next contract gets taken on rather than declined."
Gino Tabila
Associate Director
Frequently Asked Questions
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Why Secured Lending?
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Case Studies
$2.155M Second Mortgage Working Capital Facility Across Brighton and Cremorne
$280K Second Mortgage for Short-Term Cash Flow in Kooyong
$545K Bridging Loan Across Three Suburbs in Melbourne's North-West
$400K Second Mortgage Repaid in Full After a Flexible Two-Month Extension
$1.8M First Mortgage Releases $980K of Working Capital for a Solar Business
$2.3M Second Mortgage Refinances an 18% Facility for a Glass Manufacturer
$800K Bridging Finance for Simultaneous Property Transactions in 48 Hours
